


Press Any Key To Continue… ∆ ...Ready, Player Two?

by josephina_x



Series: Dimension 46'\-F [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Gen, Post-Series, Post-Weirdmageddon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-02-17 09:12:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13073751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/josephina_x/pseuds/josephina_x
Summary: Welcome to The Game!‘Where reality is an illusion, time is dead, and meaning has no meaning!’‘Each holographic universe is its own game, and with an infinite number of universes in infinite variations, no two quite the same, you will never be bored again!’The Game is the ultimate in escapism, where nothing you say or do matters, unless and until you say it does....But who would be stupid enough to say that it does? The Game is just a game where nothing matters… right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fic: Press Any Key To Continue… ∆ ...Ready, Player Two?  
> Fandom: Gravity Falls  
> Pairing: n/a  
> Rating: PG-13  
> Spoilers: through the end of the series, and some of the books (Journal #3)  
> Summary: Welcome to The Game! _‘Where reality is an illusion, time is dead, and meaning has no meaning!’_
> 
> _‘Each holographic universe is its own game, and with an infinite number of universes in infinite variations, no two quite the same, you will never be bored again!’_
> 
> The Game is the ultimate in escapism, where nothing you say or do matters, unless and until you say it does. 
> 
> ...But who would be stupid enough to say that it does? The Game is just a game where nothing matters… right?  
> Disclaimer: Not mine, not for profit.  
> AN: Oh yeah, I went there. Yup. Guess who liked .hack//SIGN back in the day and has been reading waaaaay too much LitRPG lately? Yeah. *points at self* *points at self again*

\---

\--== W-e-l-c-o-m-e t-o T-h-e G-a-m-e-! ==--

Enter name: **_William Triangle Cipher_**  
Enter password: **_*************_**

\--== WELCOME BACK, USER! ==--  
Last login: 9 months, 4 days, 1 hour, 2 minutes, 12 seconds ago.

\--== WARNING! ==--  
Last login exceeds 3 months relative time, account reactivation required for gameplay.

Enter original passphrase: **_*************_**  
Enter account PIN: **_******_**

Scanning mind mentality… scan complete!  
Scanning energy composition… scan complete!  
Comparing engrams to player database… 1 match found!

Identity confirmed! Account reactivated!

Welcome back, user!

Last login exceeds 3 months relative time, Rules refresher required!

\--=|=-- THE RULES: --=|=--  
1) One account per player. No sharing or transfer of accounts or passwords with others. No transfer or sale of ‘gold’-level game assets for money or power or wealth or your own private galaxy server. No bots. No mods. **No exceptions.** Failure to adhere to this Rule will result in expulsion from The Game and perma-ban.  
2) Do not discuss the existence of The Game, or anything outside of The Game, inside of The Game with anyone or anything at any time. AXOLOTL monitoring provides enforcement of this Rule. Failure to adhere to this Rule will result in immediate time-rollback of increasing severity according to the severity of the offense.  
3) The AXOLOTL is the ultimate oversight authority within The Game. Do not attempt to contact the AXOLOTL. (Don’t worry! When a Rule has been broken, the AXOLOTL will contact **you!** ) Attempting to mess with the AI game-master will result in expulsion from The Game and perma-ban. 

Press any key to continue…

\---

Yep. Those are the Rules. Other than that, anything goes. ...And in The Game, where you can get away with almost anything _except that_ , me and my brother are the only ones to dare to try and break them all. --And we get away with it, too! ...For the most part.

And why wouldn’t we? After all, the AXOLOTL is just a stupid AI in a pink lizard-skin. It’s not like it’s ever been able to tell us apart…

Nobody has.

\---

Press any key to continue…

\---

...But hey, it’s not like I’m breaking the Rules just by talking about this with you. After all, there’s no Rule saying that you can’t talk about The Game _outside_ of The Game, right?

And _you_ won’t tell anyone, _**WILL YOU?!?**_

...Yeah, didn’t _think_ so  >:-D

\---

Press any key to continue…

User has read and agrees to all of the above conditions of gameplay (yes/no)? ∆

\---

Hahaha, _as if!_

\---

User has read and agrees to all of the above conditions of gameplay (yes/no)? **_yes_**

Thank you for your cooperation! We hope you enjoy The Game experience!

\---

See? It’s so stupid, it can’t even tell when we’re lying!

\---

Thank you for your cooperation! We hope you enjoy The Game experience!

Remember: in The Game, reality is an illusion, time is dead, and meaning has no meaning!

Enjoy your stay!

\--== GAME TERMINAL WINDOW ==--

Available commands: help reset resume status quit

>> **_status -c_**  
You have one (1) playable demon character in The Game.  
Character name:  <Bill ∆ Cipher>  
\--== WARNING! ==--  
Extended interrupt in gameplay detected. Last login exceeds nine months.

Would you like to delete this character and reset gameplay (yes/no)? **_no_**  
Are you sure (yes/no)? **_yes_**

Home dimension: ‘-&*%##%-:(**  
\--== WARNING! ==--  
Possible data corruption detected. Dimension not listed in central database, location unknown.

\---

Yeah, yeah, _I know_. The Nightmare Realm isn’t exactly “a dimension” anymore. Whatever. It’s never stopped us from logging in before, right back where we’d left off. You’d think they’d have fixed this little “bug” by now, but no.

Not that I’m surprised. Not like anybody pays attention to anything that happens in here, anyway.

\---

Possible data corruption detected. Dimension not listed in central database, location unknown.  
Would you like to delete this character and reset gameplay (yes/no)? **_NO_**  
Unexpected input, please type (yes) or (no) to continue.

\---

Rrgh! Stupid-stupid-stupid...

\---

Unexpected input, please type (yes) or (no) to continue.  
Would you like to delete this character and reset gameplay (yes/no)? **_no_**  
Character retained.

>> **_resume_**  
Attempting to resume gameplay in ‘- &*%##%-:(**...  
Attempting to resume gameplay in ‘-&*%##%-:(**...  
Attempting to resume gameplay in ‘-&*%##%-:(**...  
Attempting to resume gameplay in ‘-&*%##%-:(**...  
Attempting to resume gameplay in ‘-&*%##Dimension 46’\\-F...

\--== LOADING, PLEASE WAIT! ==--

\---

...Wait, what? Did that just say Dimension--

Oh, no. He _didn’t_. He did **NOT** \--

\---

\--== LOADING, PLEASE WAIT! ==--  
Resume checkpoint found: Dimension 46’\\-F  
Resume location: Milky Way galaxy, Orion spiral arm, Sol star, Terra, at planetary coordinates [43°41'22.5" N, 124°07'07.1" W]  
In-game play time: 1,000,000,000,017 years, 7 months, 12 days, 3 hours, 42 minutes, 36 seconds, 105 milliseconds… and counting!  
User-defined timer: T+0 years, 9 months, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 52 seconds, 17 milliseconds… and counting!

Resuming gameplay in 10… 9… 8...

\---

Oh, _hell_ no. He _did_. --That little JERK! I _specifically_ told him **not** to jump us past the Prophecy date! And he pulled us _outside_ the Nightmare Realm _too?!?!?!_ We had a good thing going there! --I DIDN’T WANT US TO LEAVE! _WHAT IS **WRONG** WITH HIM?!?!?!?!!!_

...I am going to **KILL** my brother.

\---


	2. Chapter 2

\---

Resuming gameplay in 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… RESUMING!!

\---

Ugh. ...What is going on? I don’t feel so good. ...Did Bill mess around with the pain settings or something? I know he sometimes turns the input up from the near-zero mark where I like to keep the feedback levels, but he always inverts the pain and pleasure feeds when he does it. Pain isn’t supposed to hurt; I was real careful about getting that mod right -- we both were.

Gotta fix that first… where is the… nngn… _come on_ \--

\---

Resuming gameplay in 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… RESUMING!!

\---

\--argh. Why are none of my hotkeys auto-remapping anything again to my usual standard-basic setup? What are those basic menu setting commands, again?

\---

Resuming gameplay in 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… RESUMING!!

\---

And why is this the only thing I can see floating in my visual display, that’s in my direct line-of-sight’s field-of-view? Everything else is… dark. Pitch-black.

And the text is flickering and glitching in-and-out. That… that can’t be right. Since when do system messages _glitch?_ The _heck_ is going _on?_

C’mon, c’mon, what is that stupid command again? ‘Main screen turn on’? ‘On screen’? ‘Power on’? ‘System resume’? ‘Monitor activate’?

_WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING!?!?!?!_

...Oh, curse the AXOLOTL, I can’t believe I’m actually going to resort to this. This is so freaking embarrassing...

‘system help menu’

\---

………………………………..  
. Welcome to System Help! .  
………………………………..

\---

...Well, at least _something’s_ working right. Back to basics, I guess. Let’s see… scroll-scroll-scroll… okay, _there_ it is...

‘reset display settings’

…Hm. Well, that _sort-of_ helped? The glitchy message is gone, at least. Guess the refresh rate was off or something.

‘show hotkey mappings’

...Aaaaand that’s why none of my hotkeys work. He cleared everything out before he logged us out. Great.

‘show saved hotkey configurations’

ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS?!?!? --Well, _thanks_ , bro. Thanks a _lot_. It took me _forever_ to set those up just the way I wanted them. Freaking deleted them all, the jerk.

At least he somehow managed to delete all his own, too. Justice, I guess. At least _he’s_ in the same boat as I am, sort-of. Or at least he will be, the next time he logs in again while I’m out.

‘show saved display settings’

Nope. Nada there, too. ...In retrospect, maybe I should’ve saved the previous display settings before I reset them, just in case. Now I won’t be able to try and debug them later, to trace back what happened and maybe figure out how to _not_ have that happen again in the future, if it was actually some kind of mistake, and not on purpose. Oops.

...Oh, well. Live and learn.

‘show saved display window configurations’

Empty? Really? That’s… strange. Why would he do that? That's not like messing with my hotkeys; the default windows are actually pretty easy to fix, when it comes to redoing stuff.

‘show saved menu configurations’

...The heck, Bill? Did you clear out absolutely everything?

‘show saved HUD configurations’

Hah! This one’s not completely empty. There’s one left, and it’s one of mine! Guess he didn’t manage to wipe out absolutely everything, after all. --Good thing, too. The HUD config files are where I saved and threaded in the hooks for almost all our mods.

Hm. One second. Before I restore that…

‘show HUD settings’

...Uh. Wow. Never seen an empty status screen before. There’s literally nothing here to save. How broken is that?’

‘show display window settings’

Uh…

‘show menu configuration settings’

That’s…

Why is this all… _blank?_

Did… did Bill break my interface? --No, wait, that’s silly! If he broke my interface, then he broke _his_ interface, too, because we share it. He wouldn’t do that. It’d ruin his gameplay. With how twitch- and trigger-happy he is, this sort of thing would mess things up _way_ more for him than it does for me. I _like_ working on the longer timescales; he doesn’t. I can work around this sort of thing eventually, even if it means re-coding a few of our not-so-legal gameplay mods from scratch.

Okay, okay. Don’t panic. Resetting the display settings worked. This will probably work, too.

...But geez, Bill. Why’d you do this?

I guess I’ve really got to go with the last resort. Not like there’s anything left to worry about accidentally overwriting here, though. There’s nothing left to recover except the one saved HUD config setup.

‘reset hotkey settings’

‘reset display window configuration’

‘reset menu configuration’

...Whew. Okay. That’s not _too_ bad. Looks like that worked. Now, let’s try...

‘bringup saved HUD configuration 24C’

And the restore password for _that_ should be...

\--OW. Woah. --What the heck? Who messed with my heads-up display? Half my customized menus are either missing or ganked to hell and back, three-quarters of my mod-hacked windows are just plain gone, and the rest of the status displays and logs that _are_ actually still open are a complete and utter mess! Bill shouldn’t have been able to actually get in here, to mess around with it; he shouldn’t have known the password!

We’ve got a common delete password in-game, not a common restoration one!

...Hold on -- it still would’ve taken him a decent amount of time to delete everything in each of these subconfigs, though. All the are-you-sure-s and all the password prompts should’ve had him bored within the first few minutes, max. There’s no clear-all type of command for that sort of thing, just in case somebody accidentally starts hitting random mental buttons or something, and we’ve hardly ever gone through and deleted any of our old configuration save files out. We had to have had several hundred configurations in each of those saved-configuration buckets. Bill just wouldn’t have the patience to sit down and slog through all that, not even for one of his practical jokes. --I might be able to do it, but he wouldn’t. It’d be torture for him.

Ugh. This isn’t really getting me anywhere...

Let’s see if I can rearrange… no. This is a complete and utter mess. I’m better off starting from the normal interface and only porting over what I need, piece by piece.

Let me try one more thing, and see if that fixes it, just in case...

‘reset HUD configuration’

‘bringup saved HUD configuration 24C’

Nope. Still the same old-new mess. Looks like there was no carryover of potential problems from whatever the current blank HUD config had been. It looks like it’s really a problem with my saved config file.

‘reset HUD configuration’

Time to see what I’m working with, I guess.

‘show system messages’

…

...Holy moley. I’ve never _seen_ so many debuffs. They’re actually… yes, they are actually scrolling out of my vision. I don’t even recognize most of these. The heck did Bill _do_ to our character?

\--And _why_ is it so _dark?_ Beyond the basic blue-light window interfaces, everything’s pitch black, still.

Is Dimension 46’\\-F a new one, pre-bang? ...No, wait, that can’t be right. The Game system gave stellar coordinates logging in, so there has to be a star and a planet here that our demon is located on or around, that he brought us to, out of the Nightmare Realm. And the name-designation of it _does_ sound a _little_ familiar...

Wait. The 46-series of dimensions is where he was spending most of his time looking for the Zodiac Circle set, wasn’t he?

\-- _Where are those gameplay logs!!_

Ugh. Why is the text glitching _inside_ the display window? The display window itself is fine, but-- crud. Even the normal _system_ log is malfunctioning? Is that even possible?

...Okay, okay, hold on. The windows themselves are okay, it’s just the text inside them that isn’t. Maybe this is some kind of debuff problem. There are some status effects that try and mess around with players by making it hard for them to access their logs, right? Most demons don’t have a good enough memory to memorize most of their logs during gameplay, as they’re playing.

Okay, okay, let’s pull up a new couple of log windows and customize… there we go. The simplest hack in the book -- tell the window to open and display info by direct filename, and wa-lah! I type in the extended logfile namestrings that my background-running mods are auto-populating for me, and everything’s all easy enough to reopen and access!

...Aargh, the last several months of my extended logs are empty -- no auto-status-updates from any of my ‘Eyes! Did Bill somehow manage to corrupt my history-logging program? Or did he actually somehow manage to mess up the base code of our All-Seeing Eye program itself? How in the world--!?

Wait. Wait just a second. My timer is--

\---

User-defined timer: T+0 years, 9 months, 4 days, 1 hour, 5 minutes, 12 seconds, 12 milliseconds… and counting!

\---

\--still working at least, but the logs around zero-hour are just complete gibberish, wacky symbols and lots of whitespace and a whole slew of nondisplayable characters.

The heck did he _do_...

The way things are looking, this almost has to be tied to some gameplay thing. That whole huge laundry-list of debuffs…

If that's the case, then...

...maybe the missing saved configuration files are part of some penalty action? But that doesn’t make sense -- that stuff is personal to our interface. It’s very basic, baseline, low-level stuff. The only thing in-game that could possibly, theoretically make changes to _those_ would be...

Hold on, wait a minute. He didn’t. He _wouldn’t_.

…

\--THAT IDIOT! _HE DID!!!_ I **TOLD** him that was a trap!! The AXOLOTL does _not_ give out freaking get-out-of-jail-free cards to demons! _WHY DIDN’T HE LISTEN TO ME?!?!?!_

I _warned_ him! I _WARNED_ him not to ever use that thing! I still hadn’t decompiled _half_ of what that incant was supposed to do, and I didn’t recognize what _any_ of those decompiled system commands were, or where they led to in Game system memory, _let alone_ what hooks or triggers they’d set off! They were practically freaking machine code!

 _Why_ , in the name of all that is transient and meaningless, _would he do that?_

That stupid little, annoying, **completely-idiotic** , _jerk_ of a brother of mine--

...Hold on, did one of my debuffs just fade out?

\---

…………………………………………………………….  
. System message: LOCATION SHIFT IMMINENT! .  
…………………………………………………………….  
New location: Milky Way galaxy, Orion spiral arm, Sol star, Terra, at planetary coordinates [44°12'04.2"N, 127°00'52.6"W]  
……………………………………………………….  
. System message: LOADING, PLEASE WAIT! .  
……………………………………………………….

\---

...Wait, what?

\---

……………………………………………………….  
. System message: LOADING, PLEASE WAIT! .  
……………………………………………………….  
Location shift complete. Resuming gameplay in 3… 2… 1… RESUMING!!

\---

What the--

\-- _AAACK!!_

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, ahem. This series is a bit... odd. One of these "starts" / includes the 'human-looking triangle' starter-fic and goes from there. One of these starts from this fic, instead, with that other one not having happened. Sorry, hope that's not too confusing for folks ^_^;;


End file.
